AHS shut down ERs for 13 AB hospitals in Nov 2025

In November, I reported that Alberta Health Services had cut service at hospitals in 18 communities in October, 16 of which lost their emergency department.

This is a continuation of similar closures starting in May 2021. And it’s driven primarily by a lack of physicians in the communities.

I dug through all the news releases that AHS issued last month to find out if there were any closures in last month, as well. Sure enough, there were.

Here’s what I found.

Coronation

The first closure announcement for November was made on the 31st of October, when AHS said that they planned to close the emergency department at the Coronation Hospital and Care Centre multiple times in November.

Back in October, AHS announced that they were expanding their virtual physician pilot programme to Coronation (as well as the community of Two Hills). The virtual emergency physician programme would be available for some of the 22 closures I list below, but only for non-life-threatening issues.

At the end of the October, they announced they were extending the pilot project into November.

On the 13th of November, they updated their VEP hours for the rest of the month, which are reflected in the table below.

Here are each of the closures and whether the virtual emergency physician would be available.

Start	End	Hours	VEP
midnight, 1 Nov	08:00, 1 Nov	12 hours	No
08:00, 1 Nov	20:00, 1 Nov	12 hours	Yes
20:00, 1 Nov	midnight, 2 Nov	4 hours	No
midnight, 2 Nov	08:00, 2 Nov	12 hours	No
08:00, 2 Nov	20:00, 3 Nov	12 hours	Yes
20:00, 2 Nov	midnight, 2 Nov	4 hours	No
midnight, 3 Nov	08:00, 3 Nov	12 hours	No
14:00, 14 Nov	23:00, 14 Nov	9 hours	Yes
23:00, 14 Nov	midnight, 14 Nov	1 hour	No
midnight, 15 Nov	08:00, 15 Nov	12 hours	No
08:00, 15 Nov	20:00, 15 Nov	12 hours	Yes
20:00, 15 Nov	midnight, 16 Nov	4 hours	No
midnight, 16 Nov	08:00, 16 Nov	12 hours	No
08:00, 16 Nov	20:00, 16 Nov	12 hours	Yes
20:00, 16 Nov	midnight, 17 Nov	4 hours	No
midnight, 17 Nov	08:00, 17 Nov	8 hours	No
08:00, 25 Nov	20:00, 25 Nov	12 hours	Yes
20:00, 25 Nov	midnight, 26 Nov	4 hours	No
midnight, 26 Nov	08:00, 26 Nov	8 hours	No
08:00, 27 Nov	20:00, 27 Nov	12 hours	Yes
20:00, 27 Nov	midnight, 27 Nov	4 hours	No
midnight, 28 Nov	08:00, 28 Nov	8 hours	No
08:00, 28 Nov	20:00, 28 Nov	12 hours	Yes
20:00, 28 Nov	midnight, 29 Nov	4 hours	No
midnight, 29 Nov	08:00, 29 Nov	8 hours	No
08:00, 29 Nov	20:00, 29 Nov	12 hours	Yes
20:00, 29 Nov	midnight, 30 Nov	4 hours	No
midnight, 30 Nov	08:00, 30 Nov	12 hours	No
08:00, 30 Nov	20:00, 30 Nov	12 hours	Yes
20:00, 30 Nov	midnight, 1 Dec	4 hours	No

That is 258 hours without a physician on site and 141 hours without the virtual emergency physician available.

On top of that, they said earlier this year that effective 5 February, they would close down this emergency department for 24 hours every Thursday for the foreseeable future, as well as every weekend. This has since been adjusted to between 08:00 on Tuesdays until 08:00 on Wednesdays, and again between 08:00 on Thursdays and 08:00 on Fridays. For November, that came to 192 hours.

When you add that to the others I listed, we get a combined total of 450 hours that this emergency department did not have physicians on site.

Nursing staff were on hand to assess patients and provide limited care.

Coronation also lost their emergency department in April, May, June, July, September, October, November, and December 2022; January, February, March, October, and December 2024; and January, May, August, September, and October 2025.

Redwater

On the fourth day of the month, when AHS stated that the emergency department at the Redwater Health Centre would have no physician on site for 24 hours beginning at 08:00 the following morning.

Nurses were on site at the emergency department to triage and assess patients, as well as to refer them to facilities in other communities.

Every closure announcement included information on the province’s virtual emergency physician programme, which is being piloted in 7 communities, including this one.

This is not the first time that this community has had its emergency department closed. The other times were this past January, April, May, June, August, September, and October.

Fort Macleod

Also on the 4th, AHS announced that they were closing the emergency department in the Fort Macleod Health Centre for 24 hours, beginning at 08:00 the following day.

A couple of weeks later, on the 19th, this emergency deparment, once again did not have enough clinical personnel on site for 24 hours, beginning at 08:00 that morning.

Finally, four days before the month ended, AHS posted about a third closure for this community. It was to begin at 08:00 on the 27th and end 24 hours later, on the 28th.

During both closures, nurses were on site, but only to care for long-term care residents.

Fort Macleod lost its emergency department for a combined 72 hours last month.

Fort Macleod was also without emergency department services in September and December 2023; April, May, July, August, October, and December 2024; and January, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October 2025.

Smoky Lake

On the 5th, AHS declared that they were shutting down the emergency department at the George McDougall Healthcare Centre in Smoky Lake 4 times during November.

Start	End	Duration
16:00, 6 November	08:00, 7 November	16 hours
16:00, 13 November	08:00, 14 November	16 hours
16:00, 20 November	08:00, 21 November	16 hours
16:00, 27 November	08:00, 28 November	16 hours
		64 hours

Technically, they said that it would “be without onsite physician coverage”, not that it would be explicitly shut down.

Like so many others, these closures were a result of AHS not having staffed a sufficient number of physicians for this hospital.

Nursing staff were on site, however, to triage and assess patients and to refer them to healthcare facilities in other communities, if needed.

This isn’t the first time that Smoky Lake has lost its emergency department either. It was also closed in April, August, and September 2022; March, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December 2023; January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, November, and December 2024; and January, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October 2025.

Hinton

Also announced on the 5th was the closure of the emergency department at the Hinton Health Centre, which would happen twice over the next week.

First on the 5th and then again on the 7th. Both closures were to start at 21:00 and end at 07:00 the following morning.

Five days after that, AHS said it was shutting down this emergency department 3 more times last month.

Start	End	Duration
21:00, 11 November	07:00, 12 November	10 hours
21:00, 13 November	07:00, 14 November	10 hours
21:00, 14 November	07:00, 15 November	10 hours
		30 hours

A week later, on the 17th, AHS posted about 4 more emergency department closures in Hinton.

Start	End	Duration
21:00, 17 November	07:00, 18 November	10 hours
13:00, 18 November	07:00, 19 November	18 hours
21:00, 19 November	07:00, 20 November	10 hours
13:00, 20 November	07:00, 21 November	18 hours
		56 hours

3 more closures came a week later, on the 24th.

Start	End	Duration
13:00, 24 November	07:00, 25 November	18 hours
21:00, 25 November	07:00, 26 November	10 hours
13:00, 28 November	07:00, 29 November	18 hours
		46 hours

All of these closures were a result of AHS not having hired a sufficient number of physicians, or what they called “a clinical personnel shortage and an inability to secure temporary coverage”.

The community lost their emergency room for a combined 152 hours in November.

This emergency department also experienced closures in May, July, August, September, October, November, and December of last year, and January, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October of this year.

Grande Cache

Alberta Health Services announced on 6 November that they were closing the emergency department at the Grande Cache Community Health Complex for the following weekend.

The closure was to begin at 08:00 on the 7th and close at 08:00 on the 10th, for a combined 72 hours. However, on the 7th, they announced that they found coverage for this closure.

Unsurprisingly, AHS blamed the closure on their “inability to secure physician coverage”.

EMS were scheduled to be rerouted to Hinton or Grande Prairie, if needed, during the closure.

This would have been the second time AHS has closed this emergency department since I began tracking Alberta hospital closures in May 2021. The first time was in June 2024.

Bow Island

Since April 2025, the emergency department in the Bow Island Health Centre was open only on the weekend, closing from 07:00 each Monday until 07:00 each Friday.

As of 5 September, they had been open from 08:00 until 20:00 Monday through Thursday. Fridays, they opened at 07:00 and ran non-stop until Monday at 20:00.

However, on the 7th of November, they announced that effective as of that day, the emergency department would be closed from every night for 12 hours, Tuesday through Thursday. The Friday to Monday hours would remain the same.

That adds up to 172 hours that this emergency department had no on-site physician in November.

Beaverlodge

On the 10th, AHS said that they were shutting down the emergency department at Beaverlodge Municipal Hospital 3 times over the next week.

Start	End	Duration
20:00, 10 November	08:00, 11 November	12 hours
20:00, 12 November	08:00, 13 November	12 hours
08:00, 14 November	20:00, 14 November	12 hours
		36 hours

Like the others, these closures were all a result of AHS’s inability to hire enough physicians.

In november, this emergency department was closed for a combined 36 hours.

This was not the first time Beaverlodge’s emergency department saw closures either. It was closed in May, July, August, November, and December 2023; January, March, May, June, August, September, and October 2024; and June, July, August, September, and October 2025.

Athabasca

On the 12th, AHS announced that they were closing the emergency department at the Athabasca Healthcare Centre twice over the following 2 days.

Start time	End time	Duration
06:00, 13 November	18:00, 13 November	12 hours
06:00, 14 November	10:00, 14 November	4 hours
		16 hours

Nursing staff were on hand in the emergency department during these times to provide assessment and triage services, as well as refer patients to surrounding communities, if necessary.

This isn’t the first time the community lost their emergency department. AHS also closed it in April 2022, December 2023, and August 2025.

Swan Hills

The next closure announcement came on the 14th, when AHS posted on their website that the they were shutting down the Swan Hills Healthcare Centre emergency department.

It was to begin at 19:00 that evening and last 12 hours, ending at 07:00 the following morning.

All of these closures were caused by AHS having “a lack of clinical personnel”.

Swan Hills also lost ER service in January, February, May, July, and December of 2022; June, August, and November of 2023; January, April, June, August, September, October, and December of 2024; and January, May, June, July, and August 2025.

Milk River

The town of Milk River received a closure notice on the 21st. The emergency department at the Milk River Health Centre was to be closed from 08:00 that morning until 14:00 that afternoon, lasting 6 hours.

These closures were due to insufficient staffing levels of physicians.

Nursing staff were on site in both cases to provide care for long-term care residents, and EMS were redirected to Raymond or Lethbridge.

Milk River also lost their ER in February, May, September, October, and December of 2022; in January, February, May, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2023; in January, June, and December 2024; and in August and September 2025.

Sylvan Lake

On the 26th, AHS announced that they were closing the Sylvan Lake Advanced Ambulatory Care Service the next day.

It was to begin at 07:30 on the 17th and end at 15:00 that afternoon.

This closure was due to AHS not hiring enough physicians; although AHS called it “gaps in physician coverage”.

Keep in mind that advanced ambulatory care is regularly shut down every night from 22:00 until 07:30 the following morning. Not including the regularly scheduled overnight closures, Sylvan Lake lost its advanced ambulatory care for a combined 7.5 hours in November.

This is not the first time the community has lost ambulatory care; they lost it in August and over the Christmas holidays in 2021; in January, February, March, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2022; in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2023; in January, Februrary, March, April, May, July, and December of 2024; and in April, August, September, and October 2025.

Ongoing closures

Keep in mind that these are just the closures announced in November (well, and a few in October).

It doesn’t include communities with extended closures, such as Grimshaw, where AHS closed their emergency department for 12 hours every night in November 2022 and still hasn’t changed it. That was a combined 360 hours in November.

As well, since September 2024, Elk Point has lost their emergency department for 25 hours starting at 07:00 every Wednesday. For November, that was 4 Wednesdays, for a combined 100 hours.